The adoption of air conditioning varies a lot between countries

In some countries such as Japan, the United States, or South Korea, almost all households have air conditioning in their homes. In others, almost none do. This includes countries like India or South Africa where extreme heat is frequent.

In this chart, you can see the share of households that had air conditioning (AC) in 2018. This data comes from the International Energy Agency.

Paying for the upfront cost of an AC unit is a key barrier to adoption, so as incomes rise, more people get access to them. Access to air conditioning is becoming increasingly important as the world warms and extreme heat becomes more common.

(This Daily Data Insight was written by Hannah Ritchie.)